Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Dana Mentink (novels to improve english txt) 📗

walk out the door and away from where God had meant for him to be.

She returned, her face unreadable. She thrust something out and he held up a palm. Into it, she dropped a plain gold band, her wedding ring. The pain was worse than the beating he’d taken in jail. She was giving it back to him…too little, too late.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Beckett?”

He looked at her. “I understand. I made a promise and I will keep it. You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

“Apparently, I do. I think what you are asking requires another formal request, don’t you?”

He stared, unable to fathom her half smile.

“Ask me,” she said, a tremor in her voice.

“What?”

She pointed to the ring. “Ask me.”

He looked at the ring and at her. He saw it then, warmth, forgiveness, tenderness and strength all wrapped up in that smile, and those eyes, and that woman.

He knelt, holding the ring gently, as if it might bend under his touch. Hardly able to push past the emotion, he half whispered. “Laney, will you still be my wife?”

She held up her fingers and he slid it on. Her hands were shaking, just a little. “Yes, Beckett. I love you and Muffin will love you too. We will always be your family, and I will always be your wife.”

He leaped to his feet, gathering his wife and his baby in one enormous hug and lifting them up.

Admiral added his excited yelp to the celebration.

Elation, pure and simple, flowed out of him. He set her down but held her close. “It may be a struggle for the hotel, take some time to build back up the business, but…”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “But you’ll have plenty of time to fix up a nursery for Muffin while things are slow.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He marveled at her, pressing kisses to her temple, her cheeks, her lips. He had his wife back, and what was more, he would soon experience parenting. He gulped.

“What’s wrong?”

“I guess it just hit me, the whole fatherhood thing. I need to learn all about how to do it properly. Maybe read some books. Or, uh, I mean, what should I do first?”

With her fingertips, she smoothed the frown that puckered his brow. “That’s easy.”

He looked at her in astonishment. “It is?”

“Uh-huh. I’m very close to Muffin, you know. We have a connection. The most important thing right now is to make Muffin a big pile of pancakes.”

He threw back his head and whooped with laughter. “With extra syrup?”

“Tons.”

He felt the last fetter that bound his heart drop away, just as God had always meant for it to do.

“I love you, Laney.”

“I love you too. So let’s go see about those pancakes, Daddy.”

Daddy. He laughed again with the pure delight of it. “Yes, let’s,” he said.

* * * * *

Dear Reader,

Don’t you just love fiction? My favorite part is that I get to dish up a big fat happy ending. It’s not like that in life, is it? I am writing this letter during our tenth week of sheltering in place. I am sure your life has been turned upside down too. My college kiddos are trying to finish up online. Folks worldwide are struggling to figure out how to navigate sudden unemployment, missing friends and family, and disconnection from our communities. Throughout it all, I am reminded that God’s love is so deep and wide that it transcends all the difficulties of this world. I hope you find comfort in knowing that nothing is a surprise to Him. He sees us, He knows us, He loves us, all of us, all the time.

As always, you can reach me via my website, Facebook and Twitter, or you can reach out with a letter to PO Box 3168 San Ramon, CA 94583. May God richly bless you, friends.

Yours truly,

Dana Mentink

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ISBN-13: 9781488072222

Framed in Death Valley

Copyright © 2021 by Dana Mentink

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced inany manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case ofbrief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

For questions and comments about the quality of this book, please contact us at CustomerService@Harlequin.com.

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“Want me to ask him about his fishing license?”

His gut twisted. Maybe paranoia from traveling with evidence, but something didn’t sit right. “No, I don’t—”

The fisherman turned, pulling a rifle from his side. “Nora, get down!” The bullets hit the water mere feet from the bow of the kayak. There was nowhere to hide. They were on the river without any cover, too easy a target. He struggled to duck and pull his weapon while sitting at an awkward angle in the cramped seat. A bullet hit the bow. Too close. He succeeded at releasing his gun and was lifting his arm to take aim when Nora twisted, taking her paddle with her. She placed her paddle to the right side of the boat as the gunman fired again, this time grazing the bow.

“Tandem roll,” she yelled, then sucked in a breath and dove her head and body toward